what was happening in iran at the time was that the revolution was in some trouble because of their iraq war having not gone at all well. and he was essentially looking for a way to rally the troops and it was my bad luck to be khomeini's last stand. >> rose: they visited him on the death when when he was very ill. >> and they told there was a book against islam. he was a shrewd and wily old man and saw this was something he could use to his advantage and did. i've often thought that if the book had been published a year later or he had passed away six months earlier we wouldn't be having this conversation. there would have been no need to write this book. >> rose: there's the idea of hiding which bothers you in retrospect. the idea of, in a sense, signing some kind of apology bothers you. what else. >> well, i mean just the loss of ten years of my life. not being able to kick a football in the park with my son kind of thing. but i also felt i learned a lot about myself and that's a gain, if you like. >> rose: what did you learn? >> well, after this moment we've just discussed, this kind